That's The Beat of the Heart
by camiguin
Summary: Penny Sheldon future fic inspired in part by my Littman Cardiology III stethescope at 3 AM.


QUESTION: What happens when Carli writes fanfiction before going to sleep? ANSWER: Her brain keeps writing and she wakes up in the middle of the night with an idea. This is that idea. I am not sure if I like the way it turned out but my sister is graduating today and I couldn't concentrate on THAT until I wrote THIS. Do not be surprised if it disappears and reappears later rewritten but I wanted to see what the response would be. Scissors cuts paper. Paper covers rock. Rock crushes lizard. Lizard poisons Spock. Spock smashes scissors. Scissors decapitates lizard. Lizard eats paper. Paper disproves Spock. Spock vaporizes rock. Rock crushes scissors. And as always, I own nothing.

It had been two years and nine months since Sheldon realized that Homo Novus was a complete and total crock. He was as human and as male as any other man on this planet and he had feelings for one actress/waitress.

How it happened, he could not say. How she could love him back baffled him even more, and while Sheldon under normal circumstances would do everything in his power to find the explaination for something he didn't understand, he was content to just let Penny love him for whatever the reason. He had her in his life and that was all that mattered.

And now here they were, years after meeting and months of tiptoeing around feelings, a courtship and a wedding later, laying on their bed in apartment 4A. Sheldon was curled around Penny's swollen belly feeling the little flutterings coming from the other side of that soft skin.

It had come as quite a shock to both of them. First to Penny because they had just arrived home from their honeymoon to Switzerland, Sheldon got to see his Large Hadron Collider which resulted in her new husband going fangirl on her and Penny got lots and lots of wonderful chocolate, when the nausea started. A honeymoon baby? Didn't that only happen in books and movies and urban legends? Sheldon was surprised as well because he had calculated the odds and based on Penny's average menstrual cycle, the efficiency of modern birth control, and the number of times they had engaged in coitus while on their honeymoon to be somewhere around a 0.0077809453914% chance of conception.

But seven months and several dozen tubs of ice cream later, here they were and Sheldon had never been happier. Rising to his feet Sheldon moved to his closet and pulled out his emergency bag. Unzipping the main compartment he started pulling out a random assortment of items: sterile latex free gloves, hunting knife, a sealed contained about the size of a shoe box he had built to house a chunk of dry ice, extra socks, a blow up raft, Star Trek on USB, and finally he pulled out a black stethoscope.

"Sheldon," Penny called from the bed where she was lounging in a yellow kimono with her belly poking up through the fabric. "Sweetie, what are you doing with a stethoscope?"

Sheldon didn't say anything and walked over to the bed and rearranged himself back into his former position. Once he was comfortable again he polished the shiny silver bell on his cuff and began to listen to Penny's belly. He moved it around several times, paused, and moved it one final time. Closing his eyed he listened with that cute little smile on his face.

"Penny," he whispered. "Would you like to listen to their heartbeats?" Penny nodded and Sheldon helped her sit up. She took the instrument from him and fit it to her ears while Sheldon held the bell to the place he had last heard the dual lub-dub sound. Penny grinned widely as she heard the beats.

After several minutes of listening Sheldon motioned to Penny to give him the stethoscope and helped settle her back down into a comfortable position. Replacing the earpieces back on his head he began listening again, this time not on Penny's belly but up on her chest, left side. Smiling widely he began tapping out a beat on her ribcage with his fingers.

"Sheldon what are you doing now?" Penny was confused. He just smiled and continued the rhythm.

"Why, Penny. I thought that would be obvious. I am showing you what all three of the heartbeats sound like together. I am showing you what my world sounds like. You and our children are my life Penny."

Penny felt a little flutter run through her body. Reaching out and grasping the had not tapping she intertwined their fingers. "I love you too, Moonpie," she whispered. Hours passed and the sun set but they didn't move from that spot.


End file.
